


Someone you like

by curl



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Real World, First Kiss, Implied Child Abuse, M/M, bisexual Jay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 00:39:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11116269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curl/pseuds/curl
Summary: Jay invites himself to a sleepover at Carlos' place. Carlos is anything but happy about it, but as the evening progresses they get to know and understand each other better.real world au - they're in America and instead of the isle they just live in a shitty neighborhood.





	Someone you like

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from "Someone you like" by The girl and the dreamcatcher ♥  
> this was a tumblr prompt :} (talk to me @jaylos)

Carlos was hunched over his laptop when he heard a _thump_ behind him that almost made him fall out of his chair.  
At first he was scared, for all he knew a murderer could've jumped into his room, not too unlikely in this part of town, but when he spun around he found a boy cowering under his window, pressing himself against the wall. He locked eyes with Carlos and put a finger over his mouth to keep him silent.  
It wasn't a murderer, and not a stranger either, technically. It was Jay, he went to the same school as Carlos, but they had never talked before.  
Popular guy, quarterback, ladies' man; of course someone like that wouldn't talk to Carlos. Not that he cared.. at least that's what he told himself.

Only seconds later a few people stormed past the window. Their footsteps ceased as fast as they had come and Jay exhaled, slumping down on the floor.

"What the fuck, man?", Carlos said and spread out his hands, demanding an explanation.  
"Hi!" Jay smirked. "Thanks for keeping quiet, buddy. I was in quite the pickle there."  
"What happened?", Carlos asked, but then he shook his head, "No, forget it, I don't care. Just go."  
"No can do, I'm afraid." Jay stood up, peaked out the window and then closed it.  
Only now Carlos noticed the box on the floor next to Jay. He narrowed his eyes slightly. "I'm serious, you gotta leave." Whatever Jay's deal was, he wanted nothing to do with it.  
Jay huffed. "I'm serious, I can't."  
An all too familiar sense of dread crept up in the back of his head. "If my mom finds you here she's gonna kill us both!", he hissed and walked over to Jay to open the window again, but Jay grabbed his wrist and held him back. Not forcefully, but Carlos flinched nonetheless and Jay let go again immediately.  
"Then she's not gonna find me," he answered and shrugged. "Look, I'm just gonna stay the night. I'll be out before you wake up."  
"The entire night?!" Carlos shook his head. "No no no, out of the question. You can't be here when my mom comes home!"  
Jay looked at him from head to toe, and back up again. For one short moment he seemed to have dropped his carefree manner to study him.  
Carlos wondered if he had caught on to the fact that he was actually scared of his mother, but then he put on his usual charming smile again and ignored the urgency in Carlos' voice.  
"I'll be real quiet, promise. I'll even let you in on my business," he said, picked up his box and walked over to the bed where he sat down like it was his. "Wow, it's almost as crappy as mine," he mumbled.

Carlos sighed and ran a hand through his hair, trying to figure out how to deal with the situation. "What business?", he asked, but regretted it immediately. The less he knew about what Jay was doing, the better, probably.  
He was curious, though. Jay was popular, that was true, but Carlos always thought that he didn't quite seem to fit in with the rest.  
But maybe it was just Jay's cute smile that stood out to him and it was wishful thinking that Jay might be as beautiful on the inside as he was on the outside. 

"Come here," Jay said with a smirk and patted the mattress next to him, then he ripped off the tape that was keeping the box closed.  
Carlos stood there a moment longer before admitting defeat, mentally scloding himself for not being rational. He knew he shouldn't play along, but he had never had the chance to come this close to Jay, to learn more about him.

He sat down next to Jay and watched him as he opened the box and took out what was inside.  
"Aren't those these new trading cards?", Carlos asked when he recognized the small packets, "With all the famous people?"  
So far he had only seen them from afar and he wasn't really interested. They were mostly just pictures of people who were famous for being rich. Plus, Carlos needed to save the little money he had for more important things.  
"Yeah, the kids at school are crazy about them, and I'm gonna give them what they want," Jay elaborated.  
"So you're gonna rip them off," Carlos said.  
"If you wanna phrase it like that," Jay responded, "But it's not like they can't afford it. If they want them so badly they're gonna have to pay up. They don't have a choice, the store I got them from just ran out of stock."  
Carlos snorted. "Yeah, weird."  
Jay smiled. "It's brilliant."  
"I wouldn't go so far as to call it brilliant, but it's not bad," Carlos admitted. Not that he approved of what Jay was doing, but he couldn't exactly feel sorry for the entitled brats at their school. 

"Tell me again why I shouldn't call the cops right now?" Carlos then asked, remembering that his mother could be home any minute.  
"I'll tell them you're my accomplice," Jay answered and shrugged.  
"They're not gonna believe you."  
"Are you sure?"  
Carlos bit his bottom lip. Jay was right. If it was Jay's word against his, he would get the short end of the stick.  
"Why are you doing this?" Carlos spoke quietly, as if someone could overhear them.  
Jay closed the box again and put it under the bed. "Money, duh."  
Carlos tilted his head. "Don't you have enough already? Like your friends? Are you stealing just for kicks?"  
Jay huffed. "Pff, I wish." He looked around the room, saw the spots on the walls where the paint was peeled off, the old wooden floor with stains that had been there for as long as Carlos could remember, the worn down furniture... "Your room is actually bigger than mine," he mumbled.  
Carlos wrinkled his forehead. "Then how did you end up with the popular kids?"  
"You mean besides my striking looks and endearing personality?", Jay shrugged, "Football, mostly."

Carlos couldn't hold back a smile so he looked away. Jay didn't need to see that he was actually warming up to him. He hadn't even considered talking to one of the jocks before, but maybe Jay was different, after all.  
Well, he _was_ different, what with being poor and all.  
..And a thief.  
His smile vanished. "Okay, it was _really_ nice talking to you," he said with a sarcastic undertone, "but you really gotta go now. And take your stuff with you, I don't want anything to do with it."  
Jay put an arm around his shoulders as if it was the most natural thing to do. "Aw, come on, I was counting on you."  
Carlos' eyes widened slightly in surprise when he was pulled closer by Jay.  
Already anxious about the situation, he jumped to his feet but was immediately embarrassed by his reaction. He didn't have the patience to worry about that, though.  
"What were you gonna do if you had landed in someone else's room?"  
"Actually, I knew you live here," Jay admitted.  
"How? Are you stalking me or what?!" Carlos asked, sounding almost panicky.  
"Calm down, buddy," Jay said and put his hands up in defense, "I just saw you walk home a couple times. You're kinda hard to miss with your funky hair."  
Carlos turned his head to look away. He didn't need the reminder that his hair always made him stand out.  
Jay chuckled. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that. It looks good, don't worry."  
Carlos didn't know how to react to that. He looked at Jay, who smiled at him but he couldn't tell if he was mocking him or not. No-one had ever told him that his hair looked good.  
Either way, he blushed and hoped Jay didn't notice.

There was a short silence in which Carlos had to resign. There was no way he could get rid of Jay. It wasn't like he could just kick him out by force.  
He sighed. "At least tell me why you can't leave."  
Jay opened his mouth, but a noise - a door being slammed shut - made them both freeze.  
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!", Carlos hissed and spoke on in a panicked whisper, "That's my mom. I'm gonna go deal with her, don't make a sound!" He hurried to the door. "Or better yet, hide!"  
"I'll just-"  
"Shh!"

Carlos slipped out of the room, heart pounding against his ribcage as he rushed down the hallway to the kitchen, where his mother was just about to take off her extravagant coat. It was real fur, of course. It had definitely seen better days, but she refused to throw it out.  
"Hello mother," Carlos greeted her and walked over to her to help her out of the coat as she seemed to struggle.  
"Did you do your chores?", she asked, almost sluring. Not looking at him once she walked past him to the cabinet where she kept her cigarettes.  
"Yes," Carlos answered and kept from crinkling his nose when he was hit by the stench of alcohol. He was relieved because of that smell, though. When she was drunk, she was usually tired.  
Cruella raised her eyebrows as she lit a cigarette in her mouth. "All of 'em?"  
"Yes, and there's dinner for you in the fridge," he replied and watched her closely.  
She walked up to him, waving her cigarette around, and put a hand on his head to pet him gently, and he had to force himself not to flinch. "Good boy," she mumbled, but her words meant nothing and her eyes looked right through him.  
Carlos held his breath, watching her as she toddled into the living room, leaving a trail of smoke, and collapsed onto the battered armchair.  
He waited a little longer, to make sure that she really wasn't going to have a change of heart and start yelling at him for whatever reason, and then left the kitchen as quietly as possible.

When he came back into his room, Jay was just lounging on his bed.  
Carlos closed the door and leaned against it, trying to calm his racing heart. "Great hiding spot," he hissed. He didn't have a lot of patience left, not with his mother in the house.  
Jay propped himself up on his elbow. "Relax, if I had to, no-one would find me in here."  
Carlos took a deep breath and walked over to his desk, intending to continue what he was doing before Jay jumped through his window.  
"Keep your voice down," he said and took a seat with his back to Jay. Chances were that Cruella wouldn't hear them anyway, but he didn't want to test it.  
"Your mom's a real bitch, huh?", Jay mumbled.  
"To put it lightly," Carlos answered as he waited for his lame laptop to wake up. "Why can't you just go home?", he then asked, still waiting for an explanation.  
Jay was quiet for a few moments, and Carlos wondered if he was going to answer at all, but then he said, "My dad kicked me out."  
Carlos turned around to look at Jay. He was lying on his back again, staring at the ceiling.  
"If they catch me outside one more time he's gonna lose custody. He's a real jackass but anything's better than the system, right?"  
Carlos looked at the floor. He knew all too well why he was still with his mother as well. "Right." He turned around again, but he just stared at the screen, not doing anything.  
"Besides, it's just two more years until graduation," Jay then said, "I'm gonna get a full scholarship and then I'm out of here."  
"Sounds like a plan," Carlos mumbled, more to himself. He did want an explanation, but he didn't expect Jay to just tell him something like this.  
He really was different.

Trying not to pay any more attention to Jay, Carlos began typing on the keyboard.  
"Whatcha doing?", Jay asked after a few moments of silence.  
Carlos sighed, presuming that he wouldn't get a lot of work done this evening. "Hacking into the Bank of America."  
Jay sat up and looked at him. "What, for real?"  
"Are you actually that gullible?", Carlos asked, but didn't look away from the screen.  
Jay ignored his sarcastic undertone. "No, but you're like, super smart, right? You always win those science competitions and shit."  
Carlos stopped typing. "I didn't know jocks pay attention to this stuff.."  
"Well, I do.. sometimes," Jay said with a shrug. "Where are all the trophies? You must have tons of those," he asked and looked around the room again.  
"I hid them," Carlos answered and regretted not thinking of some other explanation.  
"Why?"  
Carlos hesitated. "..Mom can't throw what she can't reach."

There was a pause and Carlos didn't dare hit a key, fearing it would be way too loud.  
But to his relief, Jay just changed the topic. "So, _theorethically_ , could you hack into.. say, the school's system and change my grades?"  
"I'm not gonna do that," Carlos responded.  
"But you _could_?"  
"..Yes."  
"That's so cool," Jay said with excitement in his voice, but still keeping it low, and his genuineness made Carlos smile. 

Carlos flinched when he noticed Jay suddenly leaning over his shoulder, he hadn't heard him approaching.  
"Woah, sorry, buddy," Jay said with an apologetic smile and put a hand on Carlos' back, probably to reassure him, but it only made him all the more nervous.  
Jay seemed to notice Carlos' discomfort and removed his hand again, but ignored it otherwise.  
"So, what are you really doing?" He looked at the wall of code on the screen, visibly confused but curious.  
"The headmistress asked me to build a new website", Carlos made a pause, but not long enough for Jay to answer, "Actually, I offered to do it. The current one is terrible."  
Jay chuckled and teased him, "Nerd."  
"Shut up," Carlos said, but smiled. He had almost forgotten that this wasn't a voluntary hangout.

Jay watched for a while longer, staying close and making Carlos nervous about making a mistake - even though he probably couldn't tell anyway - but got bored pretty quickly and went to slouch on the bed instead.  
"Why did your dad kick you out anyway?", Carlos asked, his head clearer now that Jay wasn't so close or touching him.  
He wasn't sure if it was in his place to ask that, but on the other hand he felt like he deserved to know, in return for Jay intruding.  
Besides, now that he knew that Jay was more than a pretty face or a shallow jock, he was all the more curious.

"What, you wanna bond over shitty parents?", Jay asked instead of answering the question.  
Carlos shrugged, keeping his back to Jay. "Maybe."  
"Fine," Jay sighed, "I have to earn money for him, doesn't matter how. It wasn't enough last time so he told me not to come back until I get more."  
There was a short silence, Carlos had stopped typing to listen to him.  
"It's not the first time either, but like I told you, they can't catch me sleeping outside again," Jay concluded.  
Carlos creased his eyebrows and pondered for a few moments. "..I can't believe I'm saying this but.. you can stay here, if you want." He turned around in his chair, but didn't look at Jay directly.  
"Yeah, sure, I didn't really give you a choice, did I?", Jay responded, seemingly confused.  
"Not just today," Carlos clarified, "I mean if it happens again."  
"Oh," Jay said, "Come on, don't pity me." He tried to brush it off but Carlos shook his head.  
"That's not it. But who else is gonna look out for us, am I right?" He felt stupid saying something like that, but it was the truth.  
Jay looked to the side. "Right," he hesitated, "Thanks."

Carlos didn't know how he was supposed to sneak this past his mother should she be more conscious next time, but it just had to work out somehow.  
"It's getting late. I'm gonna check on my mom."  
With that Carlos left the room, grateful for a few seconds of peace as he snuck through the hallway. The wooden planks creaked under his feet, but he knew which were the noisiest ones he had to avoid.  
He reached the kitchen and the faint babbling from the TV grew louder. When he stepped into the living room he found his mother in the exact same spot, and he wondered if she had moved at all.  
At least he could be sure that she wasn't going to wake up from them talking in his room.

When he came back into his room, Jay was still lying on his bed.  
"Don't get too comfortable, I'm not giving you my bed." Carlos walked over to him and pulled out an old blanket from under the bed, suspiciously eyeing Jay's box while doing so. What if the police found Jay after all? How was he going to explain this to his mother?  
But before Carlos could think about it further, Jay sat up and said, "I don't mind sharing." He smirked and Carlos almost dropped the blanket. "No, that's- I really don't-"  
"Relax, that was just a joke", Jay said with a chuckle and took the blanket from Carlos, "I'll take the floor."

Jay didn't get up, tough. He sat on the edge of the mattress, suddenly looking a lot more serious.  
Carlos was unsure of how to ask him to get off the bed, he had hoped Jay would do that without further prompting. He just sat down next to him, hoping he would get the hint.  
"I'm sorry, Carlos," Jay then began, calling him by his name for the first time. It was a little odd, because they had already shared a lot more with each other than their names. "I didn't mean to put you in this situation. I guess I didn't think this through."  
Jay appeared a lot smaller now and Carlos couldn't find the slightest bit of insincerity in his face. For some reason it made Carlos feel more at ease, though, that Jay allowed himself to act like that in front of him.

Carlos shrugged. "It's not like you had a choice, right?"  
"Yeah," Jay mumbled, but then he smiled slightly, "But I _was_ counting on you. Anyone else probably would've called the police."  
"You were blackmailing me!", Carlos retorted.  
Jay gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry about that, too. Asking nicely isn't exactly my forte."  
Carlos sighed, but then he looked up, eyebrows slightly furrowed. "Why did you think you could count on me?"  
"'Cause we're in the same boat.. kind of..", Jay explained, "I mean we both live in the same shitty neighborhood, we don't have fancy clothes like most of the other kids," he smiled, "and I saw you feeding stray dogs the other day, so I figured you must be nice. And I wanted to get to know you anyway."

Carlos stared at him, not sure what he had expected. He didn't know what to make of it. Usually he preferred people not noticing him, especially since his hair often didn't make it easy to be inconspicuous.  
How could Jay just say that? And with such a sweet smile no less..  
Carlos' eyes jumped between points on Jay's face.  
When Jay leaned closer, Carlos knew what was coming, he wasn't _that_ oblivious to social cues, but he was frozen in place. No, he didn't _want_ to move away.  
Maybe Jay was right and they were a lot alike. Carlos didn't think he'd ever meet someone who would understand, _really_ understand when he said his mother was.. strict. Someone who had it just as bad as him.

When Jay kissed him, he closed his eyes, trying to process the situation. How could Jay do that so easily? Was he not embarrassed?  
Carlos' heart was pounding in his chest, almost painfully so.  
He tilted his head and parted his lips slightly so they could fit together more comfortably.  
Was he even doing this right?

It had only lasted three, four seconds, maybe five, but then Carlos came to his senses and he jumped back, staring at Jay with wide eyes. "What the fuck are you doing?!", he hissed, embarrassed that he had even given in to it, that he had enjoyed it so much.  
Jay looked perplexed and it took him a few moments to answer. "I was just trying something," he shrugged, trying to play it cool, "You seemed into it."  
Anger welled up inside of him, was he really so wrong to trust Jay? "I'm not playing guinea pig just because Mr. Quarterback is a little bi-curious!"  
Jay looked away, eyebrows furrowed. "I'm not bi-curious, I'm just bi."  
Carlos opened his mouth, but the words didn't come out immediately. "..Okay, sorry, I shouldn't have said that."  
"And I shouldn't have kissed you," Jay answered with a sigh, not looking at him.  
"It's.. fine," Carlos said, "It wasn't _that_ bad, I guess I overreacted a little." He didn't dare looking at Jay either, this conversation was already embarrassing enough.  
This was not how Carlos had imagined his first kiss to go.

Jay smiled slightly. "I mean it, though. I want to get to know you."  
Carlos glanced at him. "You have a funny way of showing that."  
"What was I supposed to do?", Jay asked, although he was probably aware that the answer was quite simple.  
"We're going to the same school. You could've said hi!", Carlos said, but then he frowned, "Or can't you talk to me in public because you're too popular for me? Because in that case I'm not interested."  
He was not going to play this kind of game.  
"No, nothing like that," Jay responded, "I guess I'm not really good at handling a crush. I'm way better at flirting when I just want someone's jewelry." Jay gave him a smirk, but didn't hold his gaze.  
"A crush?", Carlos mumbled before he could stop himself.  
Now Jay looked at him, eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Sorry, was I not obvious enough?" he said sarcastically, but then he smiled and snorted quietly.  
Carlos felt his cheeks flush. "I, uh, I.. I'm just not used to this sort of thing. People usually don't want anything to do with me."

He pulled up his shoulders and smiled to himself. If someone had told him this morning that the star player of the school's football team had a crush on him, he wouldn't have believed a word of it.  
He didn't think that someone like Jay - jock, popular, good-looking - would even pay attention to him.  
But maybe, with him, Carlos wouldn't be so alone anymore.

"So?", Jay then pulled him out of his thoughts, "Since I don't think I'm too popular for you, does that mean you _are_ interested?" He smirked, but it didn't last long. "I mean, it's fine if you're not. I'm not trying to force you or anything."  
Carlos bit his bottom lip and looked at Jay, but avoided his eyes. He tried to think rationally about this situation, but his mind was too chaotic. All he knew was that he wanted to get to know Jay, too.

He leaned forward slowly, his heart beating faster with every inch. Jay understood and met him halfway, pressing their lips together gently.  
After a few moments Jay put his hand on the side of Carlos' neck, slowly stroking over his jawline with his thumb and sending shivers down his spine.  
With a quiet smack they separated again, but stayed close with their foreheads almost touching.  
"I'll take that as a yes," Jay mumbled and smiled.  
Before Carlos could say anything - although his mind was spinning too much to form a sentence anyway - Jay kissed him again while sliding his hand to the back of his neck to pull him even closer.

After a series of tame kisses, Carlos pulled back, albeit somewhat reluctantly. "You still have to sleep on the floor, though."  
Jay smiled. "Fair enough." He stole one last kiss before he got up and spread out his blanket.

 

When Carlos woke up the next day, the first thing he did was looking at the floor next to his bed. Jay was gone, and the window was wide open. He leaned down to check under the bed - the box was gone, too.

Carlos sat in his bed, recalling the events from the previous day. Lost in thought he brought a hand up to his lips and grazed them with his fingers.  
Jay had said that he would leave before Carlos woke up, but after all the talking.. and the kissing.. Carlos had assumed he would stay longer.  
Was Jay just using him after all? Did it mean nothing to him?  
But when he stood up his eyes fell onto the messily folded blanket on the floor, or rather on the piece of paper and a packet of cards on top of it.  
He picked it up to read the message Jay had left.  
"See you in school ♥"  
Relief washed over him when he realized that Jay had been genuine.  
Smiling like an idiot he pressed the piece of paper to his chest with both hands.

He wasn't even bothered that he had to take care of his mother, who seemed like she really didn't move all night, he was just looking forward to going to school, even more so than usual.


End file.
